During the pandemic, a lot of people couldn't go to the gym. Those days are now behind us with Orangetheory Fitness Co-Founder and CEO Dave Long telling Yahoo Finance Live that though digital is "not going anywhere," gym-goers still want the "in real life" experience.
On the topic of pricing, Long says that Orangetheory has done more promotional activity such as free classes to show the value the fitness company offers in a bid to take "price out of the mix."
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Video Transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
- Thanksgiving yesterday has many of us feeling just a little bit sluggish and maybe starting to think about the holiday season, getting back to the gym. Well, the gym and fitness industry, we know, is entering a very critical time. It's worth about $7 billion, with several franchises and companies vying for consumers. So do hiring practices and also locations of those gyms impact consumer experience. Like many fitness franchises, Orangetheory has been innovating its classes and adding locations to push a growth this year. For more on this, we want to bring in Dave Long. He's a CEO and co-founder of Orangetheory. Dave, it's good to see you.
So first, before we get into some of those growth plans, I'm curious. Just taking a step back a bit, where does the fitness space stand today? We talked about so many of the changes that took place during the pandemic. How is what you're seeing today compare to what we saw three years ago?
DAVE LONG: First of all, happy Thanksgiving. Great to see you. And you know, it's been-- I think it's been a consistent shift back to understanding what consumers want in real life fitness. It's a really important part of them getting the results they want, being accountable to show up, and also the communities that surround great-- great fitness studios. Although, you know, digital is still alive and not going anywhere. I think there's always going to be a blend. But what we're seeing is a cornerstone for most of our consumers is the in real life portion of this.
- Dave, I always love getting your insights on the fitness space here. Because when I think about my own experiences-- and I've been to a couple Orangetheory sessions. I went to one in-- most recently and our team knows this very well-- Birmingham, Alabama. And it's amazing how replicable the experiences across locations here and what your staff is able to do.
But all of that considered, when you think about pricing mechanisms, especially in some of these different regions where consumers are thinking about how much they're paying for a single class or if they're getting a package or you know, just how much they're spending into that experience, have you seen that have to moderate, especially given the fact that many consumers perhaps around the Thanksgiving table this year inflation might have been a topic of conversation?